Effie Darlene Barba

Psalm 46: ¹⁰ Be still, and know that I am God

Jude 1: ²⁴ Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,

²⁵ To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.

There are times in this world that we might feel the world pressing in around us and we wonder if God even hears our cries.  There are those days when we look at our own lives with such guilt and disdain that we shudder to even think of coming into His presence; after all, why would He want to hear from someone like me.  I can say that over the years since I have accepted Christ, I have so often stood in both places; sometimes, believing that "Yes, I was saved because of the blood of Christ; but maybe I am not good enough to really be loved and all this pain, suffering and sorrow that enters my life is God’s punishment for my sin."    But, that is only one more means of Satan trying to steal your joy and by thus doing, steal your testimony.  So many false doctrines have sifted into the churches placing legalism in the forefront.   Those types of thoughts prevent you from just sitting a while with God, being very still and just knowing Him.  We run to hide (much like Adam) believing that we avoid His presence; yet, He is there.  When Christ died on the Cross, He cried out "It is finished."  Hebrews 10: "¹⁰ By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all."   If it depended on me, if I could be able to work hard enough to present my works as worthy to stand in His presence; then why would Christ have suffered with such agony and humiliation taking on the full wrath of God, being beaten and dying on the cross as my substitute.  This I know, every valley I have ever walked in this lifetime has been there to draw me ever closer to the abounding joy that I have in God’s presence.  My hope stands firm in Christ, that he is able to present me faultless before God; not on my own merits, but on His blood that was shed for me.  Furthermore, He will finish His work in me; transforming me into His mirrored image; little by little, glory by glory.

2 Corinthians 3: "¹⁸ But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord."  My part in all this?  Just to sit with Him a while each day and bask in the glory, beauty, love and joy that He is.  How could I not do that; after-all, he swept me off my feet and I have fallen completely and unashamedly in love with Jesus Christ, my King.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ifE4J2NeFs

 

Psalm 34: ¹⁷ The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles.

¹⁸ The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.

¹⁹ Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivereth him out of them all.

It was a very dark night on December 15, 1987 as a young man drove down those dark country roads in Missouri on his way to talk to his father, just to visit.  There had been a terrible storm the previous night and the road crews had been cleaning up the debris all day.  As he drove down that dark road the lights from his truck cutting into the darkness.  He came over the small hill and lights peered into the small valley.  Just as his truck lights moved upward to the next hill, there imminently in front of him loomed a very large tree across the road.  There had been no warning signs placed, no "road closed" posted; though the neighbors had reported it throughout the day. He pressed hard the brake as well as the emergency brake with his 6’3" body arching back, head pressed against the rear window. The tires screeched and it appeared that the truck might just stop short of the trunk when a large tree branch shattered through the window ripping through the metal frame, scrapping across his chest and piercing through his neck as the branch lifted his body pinning it on the tool box in truck bed; and the young man had died.  I received the call from mom, telling me my dear brother had died. My mind whirled as I remembered that only 2 weeks prior he had sat at my dinette in my home in Texas.  I remembered his soft curly blonde hair framing his face and the sparkling blue eyes framed with the longest, fullest eyelashes I had ever seen; while I teased him that what a waste he got both and I neither.  It had been God’s gift to send him to my house that week to help repair the mess a contractor had left behind.  Our lives had gone such different directions; it was one of the first times I had told him how much I truly admired him.  Master’s in finances, he had chosen to teach agriculture and shop in the poorest school in the area because it was the only hope of a future most of his students would ever have; and he wanted them  prepared to face the world.  The news of his death cut like a knife through my heart.  So I quickly ran to tell my husband that we needed to all go.  I did not realize then and would learn later that he was frightened of funerals and funeral homes.  All I remember is that he said that he nor my sons would be going, I would have to go alone.  I did not want to leave my sons and I did not want to go alone; but I knew I must go, I could not leave my father and mother alone in this.  There was complete silence on the way to the airport and then as I was getting out of the car, my husband said, "Maybe when you get back, we need to talk about possibly a separation or divorce."  He never meant that as the conversation never came up again; perhaps, it was the only way he knew to deal with grief was to attempt to separate from it.  Still, I felt so alone and broken at that moment.  Sitting on the plane, I leaned against the window and tried to close my eyes.  I thought back on my life and wondered, "Why Charlie and not me?"  He was so noble and just; while I was the one who stumbled her way through, uncertain of the choices I had made in life and wondering why God still loved me.  Death certainly makes one think about life.  As I sat on that plane, suddenly I began to hear a song playing in my head.  It was not a song I had ever heard; but it was comforting.  That was the first time God gave me a song which I later wrote down; and, it was the only poem which also came with music in my head.  It would be many years before I would start hearing and writing poetry in my head which comes at odd moments and for seasons of time; yet, the words carried me through that week and back home where everything had gone very well and I was welcomed home by my husband and children with loving arms.  Let me assure you that no matter what the sorrow is that you face today, God can put a song in your heart to comfort, to uplift and to help you through.  Below is that song which I later had sent to Hilltop Records who placed this tune to it and recorded it; but the music I hear in my head that goes with this song, I think is far better than this arrangement–still I hope you find comfort in it.  We are never to strive in this Christian walk alone; God is there and He will finish the work He began in you.  I remembered the night Charlie as a teenager had accepted Christ as His Savior and I know that one day I will see him again as we both stand in the presence of our Glorious Savior, our Comforter, our greatest love, and our Best Friend–Jesus Christ.   

When I First Came to Know Him

When I first came to know him

So many years ago

I vowed that I would serve him

With heart and mind and soul

Then I found that in my strength

I would but only fail

Then He came and He told me

As we walked down life’s trail

1^st chorus

I’ll be your strength when you are weary

And your hope when skies are gray

I’ll be your faith when yours is failing

And your light on each dark day

I’ll be the love your lonely heart

When it’s breaking in despair

I’ll be all in all your everything

If you look to me in prayer

I strove on in my strength

And strayed so very far

Until my life was broken

And sin had left it’s scar

Then I cried, Oh, my Father

How deeply I had failed

Then He came and He held me

And His love prevailed

2^nd Chorus

Now He’s my strength when I am weary

And my hope when skies are gray

He is my faith when mine is failing

And my light on each dark day

He is the love to my lonely heart

When it’s breaking in despair

He is all in all my everything

When I look to him in prayer

Now if you have strayed from

Or never knew His love

Then turn your eyes toward Jesus

And seek Him from above

He will take all your brokenness

And fill it with Himself

He will take all your sin away

And fill each empty shelf.

3^rd Chorus

He’ll be your strength when you are weary

And your hope when skies are gray

He’ll be your faith when yours is failing

And your light on each dark day

He’ll be the love to your lonely  heart

When it’s breaking in despair

He’ll be all in all your everything

If you look to Him in prayer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LbHd6eZrgk

1 Chronicles 16: ²³ Sing unto the Lord, all the earth; shew forth from day to day his salvation.

²⁴ Declare his glory among the heathen; his marvellous works among all nations.

²⁵ For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised: he also is to be feared above all gods.

²⁶ For all the gods of the people are idols: but the Lord made the heavens.

²⁷ Glory and honour are in his presence; strength and gladness are in his place.

²⁸ Give unto the Lord, ye kindreds of the people, give unto the Lord glory and strength.

²⁹ Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come before him: worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.

Show forth His salvation every day and sing praise unto His Glory.  There are many gods and idols formed by mankind; not only religious ones; but also how many make idols of possessions, money, position in life, appearances, society, family, friends, and anything that we place before Him.  What offering could be enough?  So, I must give Him my life.  Turn off the TVs, set the alarm a little earlier and sit in His presence.  There is where you will find strength and gladness as you are filled with His Glory and Honor.  Then in a spirit of humble love and devotion; worship Him with the beauty of a holy life, offering all that you do up to Him.  As much as is in you serve the Lord.  1 Corinthians 15:  ⁵⁶ The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.

⁵⁷ But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁵⁸ Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.  How will you have the strength to battle against sin, if you never take the time to quietly sit in His presence? 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9vwyRTQZh4

 

 

Psalm 9:  ⁸ And he shall judge the world in righteousness, he shall minister judgment to the people in uprightness.

⁹ The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble.

¹⁰ And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek thee.

Do you seek Him with all your heart and being?  Do you know that the Creator of the Universe wants to talk with you about your worries, your failures, your hopes, your joys, and even when you are uncertain of what you need? You can trust Him with whatever you are facing today.  When King Solomon had completed the building of the temple, he stood back in amazement that God would promise to be there in presence to hear the cries of His people.  At the altar there was forgiveness of sin and there was hope because it was the picture of what was to come, the Messiah who would pay the penalty for all our sins.  God had made an unbreakable oath that He would be present to hear the cries of all who would seek Him. 

1Kings 8:

²⁷ But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded?

²⁸ Yet have thou respect unto the prayer of thy servant, and to his supplication, O Lord my God, to hearken unto the cry and to the prayer, which thy servant prayeth before thee to day:

²⁹ That thine eyes may be open toward this house night and day, even toward the place of which thou hast said, My name shall be there: that thou mayest hearken unto the prayer which thy servant shall make toward this place.

After Christ came to complete the work needed so that man could fully commune with God and took the sins of you and I upon Himself, the veil of the temple tore open; because it would no longer be needed to provide a sacrificial lamb to symbolize the atonement of Christ to come, for He had finished the work.  Mark 15: (amp) ³⁷ And Jesus uttered a loud cry, and breathed out His life.³⁸ And the curtain [of the Holy of Holies] of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.

Now, when we accept Christ’s atonement for our sin; the Holy Spirit (God the Spirit) enters in to dwell with us.  For that reason our bodies become the temple of the living God. 2 Corinthians 6: for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

So do not think that your prayers, your thoughts, and your actions are only for the moment you are in church; but reverently recognize that all your thoughts are as a conversation with God.  Yet, just like when you are in a crowd of friends and someone is talking to everyone around them; it is not the same as when a friend takes the time to quietly, one on one speak with you.  God knows your needs; but He also knows that you need to talk about it with someone you can trust–Him.  He knows that you need to spend that quiet time alone with Him, so you can feel the power of His might, the comfort of His Grace, and the hope of His promises. 

All of this to say, have you spent any time alone with God in prayer today?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5BnVuEl1jY

 

Romans 10: ¹³ For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

¹⁴ How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?

¹⁵ And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!

¹⁶ But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report?

¹⁷ So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

I Corinthians 9: ¹⁶ For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!…¹⁹ For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more…..

²³ And this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you.

²⁴ Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.

²⁵ And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.

²⁶ I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air:

²⁷ But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. (counterfeit)

Do you know Christ as your Savior?  Do you treasure the gift of salvation that you have so freely been given?  Do you look around you and agonize over the lost in the world?  If you really believe the gospel and know that there is no hope for anyone unless they come to a saving faith in Jesus Christ; then why are you sitting contentedly in your own salvation without spreading the "good news"?   If you heard tomorrow that everyone who asked would be pardoned from all debt and given $1,000,000.00, who would you tell? Yet, the eternity of all who are lost is hanging in the balance; and who do you tell?  Are you daily exercising, studying and preparing your mind and your life for that opportunity to proclaim Christ to someone?  If you love Christ with all your heart and soul, why would you not want the world to know about this great love?  Are you like Paul compelled with a passion that necessitates your proclaiming His name so that if you didn’t you would grieve with great sorrow?  Do you have a great passion for Christ and in that have a passion for the lost?  "How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?" Nor do I mean that you go out and talk about Christ while at the same time you are unwilling to  come under subjection to Christ, in your life.  I must continuously lay down my life, study His Word, repent of my sins so that I might live the life which can draw men toward Christ?  Can I live a life filled with selfishness, pride and unrepentant sin while proclaiming His name?  Can my words be constantly destroyed by my example?  Each morning I must be willing to undergo the Master’s shears (found in His word and prayer) and lay all that is left of self at the feet of the cross; so as not to be found a counterfeit.  Only then can I hear His soft, gentle voice telling me what I am to say and to whom I must speak today?

A TALK WITH GOD

Oh, let me Lord delight in You

And lay all else I hold aside

For no desire could mean as much

As hear Your voice, to feel your touch

And in Your arms abide

I feel the safety of your arms

Surrounding me throughout each storm

And when the bitter winter wind

Would bid my very spirit bend

Your breath will keep me warm

Forgive me Lord, this fragile heart

Sometimes desires too much

Forgetting You are all I need

Then comes my tears, my plead

To stop and feel Your touch

I then can hear your gentle laugh

The love within Your voice

“My child I love you evermore

My gifts on you I freely pour

The best for you my choice”

Oh, Lord I want to stay right here

And sit here at Your feet

To never step away from You

And then I cannot lose my view

No chance for fear, defeat

“But child I ask then who would go

To tell the wounded broken heart

That I their lonely heart would mend

If not but you, who can I send?

If you refuse to start”

Then Father, Dear, I must say yes

To go and run Your bidding do

And You will cast aside my fears

Your hand will wipe away my tears

And keep my eyes on You

I know that You go with me now

You’re ever present in my heart

I feel Your joy arise within

I feel Your wondrous strength again

Your love will ne’er depart

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHjdRDBS25k